Dishin’ On Daryl…

Yesterday I attended the 7th Annual Golden DOVS Awards for Dedicated and Outstanding Volunteer Service. DOVS stands for Directors of Volunteer Services. Sara Lepp, the Director of FirstLink nominated NDSU’s Emergency Management Program for our work with her organization on last year’s flood and on the Teen CERT program. Thank you Sara – that was very nice, not necessary, but very nice.

It was a lovely event and there were some phenomenal volunteers there…they made me feel like I should be doing so much more with my life. The event was emceed by local meteorologist Daryl Ritchison. Daryl was very funny…they should give him some more face time on the news (and note, I received no remuneration for that pitch). I did think that Daryl perhaps disclosed a bit too much about himself though. He said things that once let out of the bag begged (at least in my estimation) to be shared with a larger audience (namely any one that reads this blog). So, allow me to share some fascinating tidbits about Daryl Ritchison.

Daryl has snowblower "issues" and has sought assistance for his "issues" from a number of members of the Fargo-Moorhead community. He seems to be coping better these days than he was in January and February, but he remains just a snowblower away from similar "issues" in the future.

Daryl likes pie – A LOT. Daryl, it appears, will do quite a bit to get his hands on pie. He was anxiously promising to spend time with one group every week as long as they would feed his pie habit.

Daryl has a MAJOR crush on the Looking Good Ladies who he refers to as the "Good Looking Ladies". He outwardly admitted that he had been looking forward to the event for weeks because he knew they were going to be there (but noted that no one should tell his wife that – shhh – it is a secret). During the event he referenced them repeatedly and was continuously smiling in their direction. Then during the door prize drawings they all won prizes – what are the odds? I think Daryl was trying to win their favor with candles and coffee cups – it was a bit shameless. Not that it was one-sided…the ladies were putting out mega watts of charm in Daryl’s direction…and to be fair they were a very good looking bunch.

Daryl seems to have some challenges in reading handwriting and some pent up animosity toward sloppy writers. I doubt any of the folks whose door prize slips were denoted as difficult to read will ever hurriedly write their name on a door prize slip again. The outgrowth of Daryl’s frustration will undoubtedly be felt in ripples across other door prize drawings for years to come. Still, even with the unintended benefit received by others that can be attributed to Daryl’s angst over these handwritten slips, it is worth noting that those who provide handwritten material to Daryl should start cleaning up any ambiguity in their handwriting or be prepared to deal with Daryl’s wrath.

A bit shockingly, Daryl tried to use his influence as the emcee on Captain Tod Dahle of the Fargo Police Department (who was serving as a judge for the awards) to get out of a potential parking ticket having parked semi-illegally for the event. Of course, Captain Dahle was having no part of that, but I do believe he made a mental note of Daryl’s criminal propensities just in case anything like this were to come up in the future.

Daryl offered some seemingly sage advice to the gentlemen door prize winners on how to maximize their good fortune by passing off their winnings as well-thought out and purchased gifts to their wives or significant others (I got the distinct impression he may have utilized this technique himself in the past). If any of you out there received a linen scented candle or gift bag of lotion yesterday from a man who attended this event please report as to whether Daryl’s maximizing approach was used on you.

Daryl also made some very overt comments to the "cookie lady" – a volunteer who won an award and who was noted for giving cookies and sweets to kids she works with. It became quite clear by the end of the event that Daryl’s sweet tooth may cause him to be in some compromising situations.

Wild stuff – right? Who knew Daryl Ritchison was such an enigma? I bet you thought he was nothing more than a mild-mannered, local weather personality. It’s amazing the stuff you can learn about folks in a couple of hours. If your curiosity about Daryl is now piqued, contact the Looking Good Ladies…something tells me they’ll be seeing a lot of him. 😉

Melissa~ tis’ true I won a prize…does that mean I may have a future as a Looking Good Lady? I don’t think Daryl gave me my prize with the enthusiasm in which he gave them their prizes…but maybe over time I will grow on him.

I passed my prize off to Chuck Cunningham and I think he may indeed have passed it off as a well-planned and thoughtful gift to his girlfriend – I’ll check on that! 😉

Alright, alright…it is true I parked in a not clearly marked parking spot in the lot due to the lack of availability of clearly marked spots, but I did not use my position to try and get out of a ticket (and thankfully I did not get a ticket). I didn’t want to park too close to the building lest my son Noah find my car there and capitalize on the opportunity to check me into Bethany Homes for an extended stay.

ABOUT

Hi, I am Ms. C.

I teach at NDSU...but I remain a student of life with all the enthusiasm that entails. My favorite saying is, "Sometimes you have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down." In the new forty that is what I am doing - building my wings. Please feel free to join me.